


Falling Apart and Picking Up the Pieces

by FanFics4allppl



Series: The Life and Times of EraserMic [3]
Category: Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead Needs a Break, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead Needs a Hug, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Becoming Teachers, Breaking Up & Making Up, Character Death, Deaf Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Hoppers Cafe, Hurt Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Hurt Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, I mean a LOT, I'm so sorry, Injured Aizawa Shota | Eraserhead, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, Making Up, Mentioned Depressed Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes (Manga), My Hero Academia: Vigilantes References, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Spoilers, Naruhata Vigilantes - Freeform, Put Your Hands Up Radio: Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic’s Radio Show, Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic Needs a Hug, breaking up, but it takes like four chapters, but there's a lot of time in between, hoppers, spoilers for Vigilantes ch 59-65, well he uses hearing aids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26179816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanFics4allppl/pseuds/FanFics4allppl
Summary: Shota, Hizashi, and Oboro are trying to get through their second year at UA's Hero Course, but after a horrific incident, Shota needs to figure out how to keep going. Life after graduation is a challenge in itself, and Shota isn't doing quite so well.
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Erasermic - Relationship
Series: The Life and Times of EraserMic [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1894231
Comments: 2
Kudos: 52





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea first and foremost from the series of memories at the end of Shota's backstory in Vigilantes chapter 65.
> 
> It was gonna be a oneshot, but we all know how that usually goes ...
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

Shota thought about his final exams throughout the spring vacation. He did amazing on the writing exams again, but the practicals ...

He couldn't forget his teacher's words.

_'What kind of hero do you want to be, Aizawa? Because right now, you're only checking the boxes presented to you. You're not pushing forward on your own. Do you understand what I'm saying?'_

He had had time to think, but the only result he got to was that he had no idea. No idea _whatsoever_.

Some of his classmates already had dreams of working under certain Pro Heroes or even starting their own agencies once they graduated from UA, but Shota ...

It was all blank.

Ever since he had been a small kid, he'd known he wanted to be a hero someday. But that was all there was to the dream. The word, the profession. He didn't dream of saving people, he didn't dream of fighting Villains, at least not that he'd remember now. All he dreamed of was to become a _Hero_.

The new school year crept up on him, and yet he still didn't know any better.

His second year at UA had begun, his classmates and friends were as bubbly as ever, but he was feeling more and more down by the day.

It was only natural it was raining that day as he went to school.

He was mulling over his thoughts, when he heard a soft sound from his left. He stopped in his tracks and looked at the sidewalk.

A small kitten was meowing in a box on the floor.

He thought about doing something about it, about _saving_ _it_ , but his brain raced into the future down the different possibilities, and he figured out that there would be just too many responsibilities on his shoulders if he were to take the kitten with him. So he didn't pick it up.

Instead, he opted to leave his umbrella over the box, so the defenseless animal at least wouldn't be in the rain. Of course, that meant he was soaked once he had finally reached the school.

Their homeroom teacher wasn't happy about Shota being late. Late and wet.

»What, forgot your umbrella?« the teacher asked. »The bell already rang, so ... get changed, quick.«

»Nah,« Shota said, looking at him. »This is fine – for the mood I'm in.«

»Have it your way, but don't come crying when your mood leaves you with a cold,« the teacher responded. »Managing your own health is part of your duties as a student, walking the path of the Hero.«

»Uh-huh,« Shota said nodding, walking to the back of the classroom.

_Hero?_ he thought. _Path? I'm having a hard time picturing any of it._

»I'm ... powerless,« he finished the thought out loud, sitting on his seat.

Hizashi tried to save his boyfriend from the stares and from his own gloomy mind, so he tried to make him laugh, but Shota was _not_ in the mood.

At that exact moment, Oboro showed up through the third floor window with the help of his cloud quirk. His entrance was loud, but what Shota specifically noticed was the fact that Oboro had his umbrella with him.

The umbrella he had left for the kitten on the street.

Oboro returned Shota's umbrella and changed into dry clothes, while also showing he had brought something with him. And out of his cloud, he lifted the kitten that Shota had left behind.

By the end of the day, Shota wasn't in a better mood at all. They had done practical exercises with Class B and of course Sensoji easily beat him, then yelled at him for being so weak. And apparently Oboro had no idea what to do with the kitten, so it ended up with Nemuri, who had visited them on the roof during lunch.

The only upside was that Hizashi and Oboro had given him the idea of using his quirk to confuse Villains, but since he still wasn't quite _that_ good in combat, it didn't really help his case that much.

The next day was a bit better, since all three of them finally got accepted into Hero Agencies, so they could work their work studies.

* * *

The work studies had already been underway for a few days, enough for Team Purple Revolution, which consisted of Shota, Oboro, Nemuri, and the Pro Hero His Purple Highness, to already catch some Villains.

The last of them had been a guy with some kind of smoke quirk. Oboro had lent Shota his goggles, and they managed to bring the Villain down together. Even His Purple Highness had told them that the two of them together nearly made a whole, single Superhero.

It had been said in a joking manner, but there was certainly truth to it.

Shota couldn't do anything on his own.

The idea of wearing goggles gained traction with Hizashi as well, though. Both Hizashi and Oboro defended it as selling themselves as a trio. Oboro even talked about starting their own Hero Agency once they were done under their current work study Agencies.

They started discussing strategies, and again Shota got the gist of what he thought the other two were trying to say.

He couldn't do anything on his own.

It was getting old, really. But then Oboro surprised him when he grinned.

»I'm saying you're suited to teamwork.«

»We'll raise and close the curtain on stuff ...« Hizashi said.

»... And you just handle everything else!« Oboro finished.

He was still pretty moody, but that definitely made his day. They wanted to be a part of their team.

Maybe he wasn't quite as useless on his own.

Of course, the conversation turned on its head once Nemuri joined them. Shota went to leave, but when he looked back towards his friends, he couldn't help but smile.

* * *

A few days later, he was walking down the street in Tasomiya Ward with Oboro, who was sitting on a cloud beside him, when they heard some young children coming their way, their nursery teacher walking with them. Oboro looked very happy to see the excited kids, and he let them climb onto his cloud.

Shota saw that one of the children was about to fall off.

»Careful! Don't fall down now,« he said as he caught the kid and helped him back onto the cloud.

The dark-haired teenager relaxed a bit, but still kept up his guard. Shota started walking down the street again, the cloud with the other teenager and the little children following behind him, the teacher walking by the cloud.

When they got to a crossroads, Shota made them stop and reminded them to always look both ways before crossing the road. At that, Oboro smiled.

»You're a natural at this, Shota,« he said.

»Nah, you're just careless.«

»You'd be pretty good working with kids,« Oboro still went on. »Like at a day care, or as a school teacher.«

»Me? No. You, maybe. What could children possibly like about me?« Shota responded.

They walked in silence for a bit, and then the teacher told them they were going to go back. She and Shota helped the children get off Oboro's cloud. A cacophony of 'Bye bye Loud!' sounded from the little ones.

»Goodbye Eraserhead!« one of the children called.

»See?« Oboro said, grinning.

It brought a small smile to Shota's face and he waved back to the small group. They started their way down the street.

»It's cuz you're so observant that you overthink stuff. Like, you psych yourself out and convince yourself you can't,« the blue-haired teenager told him. »But you could do just about anything if you put your mind to it.«

»Anything ...?« Shota questioned. »Like run a day care? Or be a teacher?«

»Yep. Exactly.«

»Try thinking before you speak,« the dark-haired boy huffed.

»Naw, I'm serious.«

Their conversation was interrupted by the buzzing of Shota's phone. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw Nemuri's caller ID. He picked up.

»Aizawa! Start evacuationg the area, now! We've got a nasty villain wrecking the neighbourhood!«

Shota looked at Oboro. They ran back around the corner towards the children.

»The villain's coming this way!« Shota shouted. »Onto the cloud, kids!«

»Come on! Evacuations are fun for everyone!« Oboro ushered.

They barely started running, when the floor shook. The two students looked up and saw a giant Villain quickly approaching. Thankfully, His Purple Majesty appeared in front of them as well.

»Leave this to His Majesty!« he urged. »You two, get the little ones out of danger!«

He jumped towards the Villain, but suddenly and orb detached itself from the Villain's back. It floated above his head, and it popped.

» _YEAHHHHHHH!_ «

His Purple Highness was blown away into a nearby building. Two more orbs detached themselves from the Villain's back, and fired at the Hero and the building behind him.

»That was ... Hizashi's voice quirk?! And now ... Sensoji's blast!« Shota realized. »So he stores up other quirks in the lumps on his back?!«

The building the Villain had shot at started crumbling, and there were pieces of concrete falling down right towards the preschoolers that Shota and Oboro had been trying to protect.

»Cloud!« yelled Oboro, and his cloud moved quickly to shield the children and their teacher from the debris.

But there were more pieces of concrete falling down, and one of them hit Oboro. Shota glanced back, just to see his friend fall over, his goggles falling off his head, broken.

»Oboro!« Shota called, panicking, but there was too much dust now to see what was going on. »No! Oboro! No way!«

There were still pieces of the building falling down. The children behind Shota started crying anew, and Shota felt the presence behind him. He glanced back. It was the Villain.

Shota looked around. His Purple Highness was lying unconscious on the ground. Oboro was still somewhere under the rubble.

_I'm the only one still standing ..._

He started thinking about what to do. He thought about the Villain's quirk and how the Villain had the advantage, because he could hit Shota with quirks he'd never seen before.

_So how do I –_

One of Oboro's speakers came flying out of the rubble.

»You've got this, Shota!«

Shota looked up, took a deep breath, and pulled his goggles over his eyes.

_That's right_ , he thought as he activated his quirk, his dark hair flowing up. _No hesitating! Not now! My quirk is erasure! Whatever powers the enemy brings to the table, I can strip them all away and level the playing field!_

He jumped towards the Villain. After figuring out that he couldn't just evade the orbs, he thought of a plan. He could run at the Villain again, and kick the next orb towards the sky, making it shoot upward, a safe distance away from other people.

He decided to do just that, but he immediately got swatted away by the Villain's giant hand.

_That just leaves that big body. What's my strategy for dealing with that?_ he thought as he looked up at the Villain. _I'll just ..._

He remained sitting on the ground, defeated.

_No ... I've got nothing!_

»You can do it, Shota!« came from Oboro's speaker.

Shota looked over, woken from his helpless thoughts.

»You're the only one who cab protect everyone! It's all right – you can do this! You've got what it takes!

Shot grit his teeth and got onto his feet.

»After all, I know for a fact ... You're strong! You won't lose!«

Shota screamed, then ran at the Villain, whipping the capture weapon at the giant body.

»You can do it, Shota!«

He punched the Villain in the eye with his elbow. He got swapped away again by the now much angrier giant.

»Don't lose, Shota!«

While he was flying through the air, he wrapped his capture weapon around a bigger chunk of concrete and threw it at the Villain.

»Come on, Shota!«

The large piece of concrete hit the giant right on the head.

» _You can do it, Shota!_ «

The Villain let go of all the orbs in a last-minute attempt to defend himself.

»All at once?« Shota asked. »Sure!«

He threw his capture weapon at the orbs, and managed to wrap them all together. He made sure to keep them in his line of sight, so they wouldn't explode right in front of him.

»A taste of your own medicine!« the Hero Trainee yelled as he kicked the bunched up orbs into the Villain's open mouth.

Shota blinked and the orbs all exploded at once inside the Villain's body. Sure, he was slightly blown away by the shock wave, but the Villain toppled over as well. The giant body fell onto the ground.

»I did it,« Shota said in disbelief. »Oboro! I did it!«

It took a while, but the emergency teams finally came and started taking care of the wounded Heroes and civilians. Hizashi and Sensoji found Shota still lying on the ground close to the Villain's unconscious body. Hizashi helped him up and they explained to him that the Buster Union – the Hero Agency they were doing their work study under – had fought the Villain, but that they had failed spectacularly.

Shota in turn explained to them what happened on his end, and one of the Pro Heroes from the Buster Union heard part his story.

»One trainee took that things down all on his own? Hard to believe,« the Pro Hero said, looking back at the Villain, who was now being taken away by the police.

»Nah ... It was a team effort,« said Shota. »My partner was cheering me on the whole time. Right? Shirakumo?«

He looked at Nemuri, who was standing close to them, facing away.

»How're his wounds looking Kayama?« he asked.

She didn't turn around, she didn't speak. She stayed quiet and turned away, slightly hunched over.

»Wait. That bad? Really?« Shota asked, standing up. »Let's get him to the hospital, quick ...«

He saw Oboro's speaker on the ground near his friends.

»See that speaker, Hizashi? That's Oboro's. We'd better take it with us.«

Hizashi reached down, but paused before he actually touched the prop, his face suddenly full of surprise and worry.

Nemuri, still facing away, took the glasses that were part of her hero outfit, and put a hand over her face.

Sensoji yanked the speaker out of the blonde's hands.

»Huh? This thing's totally busted,« the blast quirk user said.

Shota's eyes went wide.

»Th-that can't be. The whole time, Shirakumo was ...«

»You're saying you heard him cheering you on all along, until the very end?« Sensoji interrupted him. »Nah. You couldn't have. You were just giving yourself a pep talk and imagined it was coming from this speaker. They say that can happen, y'know. When it's do or die.«

»No way,« Shota said. »Nuh-uh. I heard him saying 'You can do it!' and ' Come on, Shota!' His voice kept me going ...«

He turned around towards the collapsed building. There were two medical workers crouching next to a body under a white sheet. White, except for where the head was covered; the sheet was completely red over the head.

Shota looked closer and saw light blue hair, clumped together with blood, peeking out at the edge of the sheet.

His eyes went wide, his mouth gaping a little.

»Aizawa,« came Sensoji's voice from what seemed very, very far. »A top-rated Hero Team couldn't take down that monster of a villain. But you went toe-to-toe with it and beat the odds. _You_ did it. _Alone_.«

»Ease up Sensoji!« cried Hizashi.

They kept talking, but Shota couldn't hear them, not really. He kept staring at the rubble even as Oboro's unmoving body was carried away, even as the police marked the place with tape that said 'keep out', even as the rain started pouring down on him.

»Aizawa. Yamada,« came Nemuri's voice after a while. »Let's get inside, come on. We don't want you getting sick out here.«

»Thanks, Kayama,« said Hizashi, who came to stand next to Shota. »But we're good. The rain kinda fits our vibe right now ...«

Shota grit his teeth as the tears kept cascading down his cheeks. His brain was bringing up all the good memories he had of his friend. The many times he smiled, just to cheer Shota up. The pranks they pulled on each other. The way he clowned around during class. The way he never lost his positive attitude.

And now all Shota and Hizashi could do was stand in the rain, thinking how it all could have gone so wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The loss of a friend was a heavy hit. Shota needs to figure out how to go on.

The first time Shouta spent the night at Hizashi's house after the incident was ... not good.

Hizashi had barely kept it together at school or when they were outside, but once they were behind closed doors, he simply broke down.

»I c-can't believe he's n-not ... I just- I ... How?«

Shota pulled him into a hug and Hizashi pressed his face into his boyfriend's shirt.

»Hizashi ... There was nothing we could've done ...«

»No, you don't get it!« the blonde shouted and pushed himself away.

Tears were streaming down his face, and he just couldn't look at the dark-haired teenager sitting next to him on his bed.

»The blast that sent His Purple Highness into the building, the blast that made the building start crumbling, the blast that got Oboro k- ...«

He still couldn't say it.

»Anyway, that blast ... That was from my quirk!«

»Hizashi, it wasn't your fault! The Villain was the one who stored it and the used it!« Shota yelled back.

Hizashi went quiet. He looked at the ground.

Shota sighed.

»I'm sorry I yelled, Hizashi. But really, it wasn't your fault. We all did the best we could.«

»And it wasn't enough. Like that idea's any better,« the blonde softly said, pulling his legs to his chest and hugging his knees.

»Hey, don't ...«

»No, it just ... Sometimes it feels like no matter what I do, it's never enough, you know?« Hizashi said, finally looking at his boyfriend with wet eyes.

He took off his glasses and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

»And I know that the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows, but I just wish that someone would've been there that day, someone who could've appeared on the scene and saved us all.«

»Or someone who would've defeated the Villain before he even came close to us,« Shota said. »That way there wouldn't even _be_ an incident that would need to be resolved.«

»That would honestly be even better, yeah,« Hizashi admitted and climbed closer to the other teenager.

Shota hugged him again, and they fell back on the mattress, Hizashi still in Shota's arms.

»Hey ... If you don't want to do anything special, can we maybe just ... um ... lie here together?« Hizashi asked with a small voice.

Shota nodded into his boyfriend's wild hair. »I'm here for you.«

* * *

Over the next few days, Shota kept thinking about the conversation he had had with Hizashi that night.

_Someone who stops Villains before they even get a chance to make a scene ..._

Given how many Villain attacks there were each week, Shota doubted anyone like that existed. And now that he thought about it, it almost seemed like the students in the Hero Course were being taught how to be Heroes in the spotlight.

Not that there was anything wrong with doing good deeds and getting famous because of it, but ... What would be so wrong with doing good deeds without being praised for it?

Yes, it was now a profession, but Heroes were still meant to be people who help others, no matter what, right? So why couldn't they just do it anonymously?

_Wouldn't that actually be the most Hero-like behaviour? You wouldn't be stopped by the media, so you could always be on the lookout for Villains and stop them faster than if you were delayed by interviews or photo-shootings or stuff like that?_

Needless to say Shota didn't get much sleep since his brain started down that road.

Well, he also couldn't sleep much because of the nightmares of Oboro's unmoving body lying on the ground, that dirty sheet draped over his _corpse_ –

But he couldn't really talk about that.

His dad wouldn't understand, Hizashi still had his own worries because of his part in the incident, Nemuri didn't want to talk about the incident at all, and without Oboro, he was practically out of options.

And so he rather spent his nights thinking about what kind of Hero society really needed. What kind of hero he needed to become.

* * *

In the beginning of the third semester, Hizashi started an internship at the local radio station to take his mind off of everything that was going on in his life. He still felt guilty about Oboro, the occasional nightmare prevented him from sleeping throughout the whole night, which meant he was tired in school, which in turn meant that his grades had started slightly dropping.

Shota, on the other hand, felt like he had too much time on his hands.

There weren't quite as many classes in the third semester, since the students were expected to be doing their work studies. At the same time, His Purple Highness was still feeling slightly unwell – apparently he had also sustained a lot of damage on the day of the incident – and so their patrols were usually much shorter than they probably should have been.

On the few occasions that they actually encountered Villains, Shota was told to handle the evacuation. Yes, he had defeated _that_ Villain – apparently his name had been Garvey and he had been wanted for many other crimes – but that win was mostly a fluke, and all three members of Team Purple Revolution knew it.

Nemuri was told to knock out the Villain before he could deal too much damage. Every time Shota heard that order, he was remembered of his ideal Hero.

It took him a while, but in the end, he decided to become this ideal Hero.

So, in all this new-found free time, he decided he would train. He found a lone path in the nearby woods and sprinted up and down many times a day, timing himself to track his progress. He climbed on the trees, then tried to get as far as he could using his capture weapon, swinging on branches. He found a pine tree and worked his arms and knuckles by punching the soft wood.

Sometimes when he woke up way too early from his nightmares, he decided to go to the campus and ask for permission to use one of the school gyms. He could tie his capture weapon to the ceiling and practice climbing up, with or without the help of his legs. He could use normal punching bags and other fitness equipment.

He suddenly found battle training exercises very interesting and he did his best to take away from the classes as much as he could.

One morning he was so focused while training that he was almost late for class. He didn't have time to change out of his gym clothes or to shower, so he just ran back to the main building – in record time, that is.

He saw two people on his way there. The first one was his homeroom teacher.

»Forgot about the time, did you?« he asked the student, arching an eyebrow at his appearance.

Shota nodded, looking at the ground at his feet.

His teacher sighed.

»Well, I can't really be mad at you, since you were training. Run to the bathroom, you still have a few minutes until class starts.«

The second person he ran into was Hizashi.

The blonde was just walking out of the toilet, when he saw Shota running towards him. Hizashi's eyebrows went up when he took in the state of his boyfriend; already sweaty and tired at such an early time in the morning.

»Shota, what ...«

»Later, Hizashi,« the teenager responded and locked himself in a cubicle.

Hizashi left for class – it was obvious to him that Shota wouldn't talk about it. When lunch time came and Shota still hadn't said a word about why he had looked like he had run a marathon before he came to school, Hizashi decided to ask directly.

»So, about this morning ...«

»I was training,« Shota answered shortly.

»Training?« Hizashi pressed.

»Yeah, training,« Shota said and left it at that.

It took a few more attempts, but Hizashi finally convinced Shota to tell him about this training, so that he could at least be there to support his boyfriend.

Before they knew it, the final exams we're on their doorsteps.

Hizashi was despairing over the written exams, so Shota helped him study, and he explained the concepts that Hizashi couldn't understand.

The first day of the exams was there and they both managed to pass, Shota with flying colours and Hizashi poorly - but still passing.

The practical exams were something else completely.

They had a practical exam in first aid, which the whole Class passed with great scores.

Some of them did quite badly during the battle exams, though, since they were very different to the battle exams they had had in their first year, the most obvious difference being they now had to fight alone against their homeroom teacher instead of in pairs.

Hizashi got through using the sheer force of his voice quirk. He literally just unleashed his frustration from subjects he still couldn't understand but had to know on the written exam, and simply yelled the complaints at his teacher. The arguments were never-ending, and his teacher had been forced to give up, because his ears had already started bleeding.

Shota on the other hand, managed to erase his teacher's quirk right from the start. Then it was just a matter of hand-to-hand combat.

And Shota won. Fairly easily.

No one was expecting it, not even the teacher. He had known about Shota's private training, but he hadn't been prepared for quite that much improvement. In everyone's eyes Shota had literally gone from zero to Hero.

Hizashi was very happy for him, but Shota knew how long the road that still lay before him was.

* * *

After the fairly short spring break, they started their last year at UA.

Hizashi was already feeling much better. He hadn't forgotten the incident – far from it, actually – but he had made his peace with it.

On the other hand, Shota still saw Oboro in front of their third floor window every time the bell for the first period rang on a rainy day. He was also still ruthlessly training.

And since they had all become the school seniors, Shota thought they could also act like it. He wasn't even denying he was tired after pushing his body all the time, and he soon started bringing his bright yellow sleeping bag to school, so he could nap during breaks.

Hizashi didn't want to say it out loud, but he was starting to get very worried for his boyfriend. Things between them had almost been put on hold, from what he could tell. Besides that, Shota was always beat, but kept insisting he was 'fine, just a little tired'.

He tried to play it off cool, but it was hurting him that they couldn't spend as much time together as they could in their first year and a half at UA. Of course he still accompanied Shota to his solo training sessions, but lately it felt like Shota didn't even notice he was there.

One week after getting back from their summer break, their homeroom teacher informed them that they would receive counseling with regards to what they wanted to do in the future, career-wise.

Hizashi wrote many, many things, so his counseling session was quite long.

Shota, on the other hand, had only one thing to write.

»You wrote 'start my own Agency' as your career aspiration ...?« his homeroom teacher asked when Shota had gotten comfortable on the couch and was ready to begin the session.

»But why go independent so soon?« the teacher continued. »Most people begin with a few years' worth of experience at a veteran Hero's Agency ...«

»I'll only specialize in anti-Villain combat,« Shota answered honestly. »That way I can focus on fighting and nothing else. It's simple and rational.«

»Aizawa ... People don't graduate from UA just to become bounty hunters,« the Pro Hero pressed. »I realize you've been through a lot, but this concerns the rest of your life. You ought to give it some more thought ...«

Shota looked up at his teacher with a small yet determined grin.

»I'll be an independent, underground Hero. That's the sort of Hero I'm meant to be.«

They talked about the topic for a while longer, and the moment he stepped out of the room, Hizashi was waiting for him in the hallway.

»How'd it go?« the blonde asked, his smile slightly strained.

Shota properly looked at his face.

»You heard everything, didn't you?«

Hizashi's smile fell in an instant. »Yeah.«

The dark-haired teenager sighed.

»Then you probably know what I'm going to say next.«

The other student's eyes started watering.

»Shota, please ...«

»No, Hizashi, I- ...« He took a deep breath. »Don't get me wrong; you're a wonderful person. You are amazing and talented in more ways than I can count.«

»Then don't do this!« Hizashi pleaded.

»If only it were that simple ...« Shota sadly laughed. »I can't afford to have you in my life, your future fame would only get in the way. And believe me when I say this; you can't afford me in your life, either. Once we graduate and actually become Pro Heroes, you'll be much more popular than me, so you'll also get much more money. You would have to carry that weight on your shoulders – «

»And I'd do it gladly, if I knew you'd be there when I came from patrol or something!« Hizashi countered.

»That's just it; we literally wouldn't be _able_ to spend a lot of time together, since I would be out most of the time,« Shota tried again. »And then you'd be alone, financially supporting a person, who wouldn't even be there most of the time.«

»But every time I would come home, I would think of you, and- and any time we _would_ run into each other would be that much more special!«

Hizashi paused to catch his breath.

»I love you, Shota, don't you get that? I don't care what happens to us in the future as long as I know you love me, too.«

 _Shit,_ Shota realized. _This is the only way he might let go._

The erasure quirk user looked away.

 _Shit_.

»Hizashi, ...« he slowly started, unable to look at his boyfriend's face. »I-I don't know how to tell you this, but I don't lo-«

»Don't you dare! Don't you dare say that just to spite me! We'd both know it was a lie, and you'd get nowhere!«

Of course the blonde was right; it would have been a lie.

»I have more important things to care about than you,« Shota said instead, finally looking straight at Hizashi's eyes. »I'm sorry. It's over.«

The voice quirk user immediately went silent. Instead, his eyes spoke for him. All of the pain, the broken heart, the sadness - his eyes were like an open book.

A single tear slid down Hizashi's cheek. He looked at the ground. He nodded. He turned away from Shota, a quiet sob finally escaping him.

It felt so _wrong_ to see Hizashi so quiet. It was almost making the other teenager nauseous.

The blonde walked away silently, and Shota watched him until he disappeared down the stairs.

Shota fell to his knees, feeling light-headed. He fell back, so he was sitting on the floor.

 _It's better this way,_ he told himself.

Better to end it right then and there than to let it drag on. At least this way, Hizashi would probably be over him by the time they'd graduate. Simple and rational.

_It's better this way._

The simple sentence kept echoing inside his head, but it didn't help with the ache inside his chest. His eyes were stinging, too, only this time he was sure it wasn't the dry eye.

Their homeroom teacher opened the door and stepped into the hall in silence. After hearing the whole conversation, he thought about approaching the student, maybe give him some comforting words, but nothing really came to mind and he backed away.

Shota was left alone.

* * *

Over the next few months, Hizashi kept up appearances during classes, but behind closed doors ... Well, Shota didn't know anymore what was happening with Hizashi behind closed doors.

Days after the horrible talk, Shota had told him that he had nothing against them still being friends. Hizashi had smiled and nodded, but Shota had immediately recognized it as one of Hizashi's forced smiles, so in the end, it hadn't really helped much.

They kept their interactions down to the bare minimum, only talking when it was about something urgent or compulsory for their classes.

Then, after too many stressful situations in school, in the work studies, and even at home, March finally came.

The day of their graduation.

Everyone was happy, finally becoming Pro Heroes. It seemed like a perfect day, until the first raindrop fell.

»Huh? Rain?« one of Shota's classmates said.

»Seriously? On graduation day of all days?« another complained.

»Let's get in some group shots before the weather really turns! Huddle up!« a third one put forward.

»Yeah! Killer idea!« Hizashi shouted. He knew Shota would probably sneak away if he wouldn't be called out, so he turned towards his classmate. »Hey, Aiza- «

Suddenly his voice was gone, and he found Shota smirking at him, his hair up in the air. He waved at the blonde and jumped over the fence.

Shota's smirking lips turned slightly downwards as he ran through the rain.

_It's better this way._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for doing this ...
> 
> Next chapter tomorrow ... yay?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Years after graduation, Shota reunites with his friends.

It was two in the morning and Shota finally got back to his shack. That's what he called the place, at least.

It was a proper building, but since he wasn't a popular Hero and only made his living by turning in Villains, the inside was more or less only one small room with a bathroom.

He honestly didn't mind it, though. He just needed a desk to fill out the necessary paperwork, a private place to train, a bathroom, and a place to crash when his body just wouldn't go on. This shack of a place had just enough space to fit into all those categories and it wasn't that expensive. In the one room there was also a kitchen, but he rarely used it, since he was outside more often than not.

That night's patrol had been full of battling Villains almost one after another, more so than his usual patrols. He had barely had time to wait for the police to show up, before he had had to run to the next scene.

His eyes hurt, and he honestly wasn't sure if it was from using his quirk too much or from the lack of sleep. He tried to stretch his arms, but his right shoulder wasn't quite cooperating, and he was now pretty sure he had pulled a muscle during one of the night's fights.

He sat down at his desk – which he sometimes also used as the food table – and started filling out the paperwork for the arrests. It took him over an hour and a half, but around four in the morning, he finally climbed into the sleeping bag he kept in the corner of the room, and went to sleep.

He was woken up at seven o' clock by an alarm from the Hero Network. He grumbled, barely having gotten three hours of sleep, but he pulled out his phone to check what was going on.

A hero he had never hear of, going by the name of Ms. Joke, had requested help quite near his current location. He immediately responded that he would be there in a minute, then got out of his sleeping bag, and ran out the back window so he didn't have to fiddle around with his keys.

It really only took him about a minute to get to the scene. There he saw the Pro Hero evading attacks from two Villains, while a third one was apparently laughing his guts out.

He immediately jumped into action, erasing one Villain's gas quirk, and throwing his capture weapon at the other, who had some kind of mutation quirk, which Shota had no hope of erasing. Ms. Joke ran at the first – momentarily quirkless – Villain and kicked him in the face, making him pass out, while Shota tried to handle the other one.

This Villain was literally made of stone, and Shota wasn't quite sure how to deal with him. He tried throwing the Villain in the air, then pulling his down so he crashed into the ground, but the Villain simply got up, only a bit worse for wear.

Shota grit his teeth. The Villain ran towards him, throwing a punch right at the Hero's face. He was too fast for Shota to evade, so he blocked the hit with his hands.

Eraserhead bit back a yelp as he felt the ulna in his right arm crack near the wrist. Nonetheless, he gripped the fist and pulled the Villain closer, poking his eyes with his unbroken hand.

The Villain cried out, pulling away and putting his hands over his hurting eyes, but the Hero jumped above him and kicked down at the back of the Villain's neck, finally making him pass out.

Shota landed on the ground next to the unconscious Villain, Ms. Joke looking at him in awe.

»That was so cool!« she exclaimed.

»You weren't bad yourself,« Shota said. »I haven't seen you around much, are you new here?«

»Uh, not really,« Ms. Joke replied, smiling and rubbing the back of her neck. »It's true that I've only moved here not that long ago, but there haven't really been that many cases of Villains attacking, ya know?«

Shota smiled. »Good to hear,« he said as he hauled the Villain he had fought closer to the other two.

Because of the morning hour when many people were heading off to work, a small crowd had already started gathering around the scene of the fight.

»Hi there!« Ms. Joke waved at a kid who was smiling at the two victorious Heroes while passing by with their parents.

Shota turned away from the crowd. »I should go.«

The Smile Hero looked at him.

»Don't you wanna wait for the police to pick up these two? Maybe get some pictures taken while we're at it?«

»Nah, you can handle these guys. Plus, I want to go back to sleep. I had a late patrol last night.«

Ms. Joke grinned. »Not much of a people person, huh?« Her grin went down a bit and she smiled sincerely. »Thanks for the help, though. I appreciate it.«

»Any time.«

»And get that arm checked out!« she yelled after him, seconds before he used his capturing weapon to quickly climb to the rooftop of a nearby building and disappear from the scene.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Shota found himself running into Ms. Joke, or Emi Fukukado as she introduced herself the third time they met, on quite a few occasions. This mostly happened in the evenings when their patrols overlapped, and they responded to the same Villain attack.

Shota kept fighting mostly during the night, since that was when most of the Villains were actually out, preparing their plans to wreak havoc on the following day. Emi actually told him once, that she sometimes thought she could see him from her apartment, fighting Villains in the back alleys, and winning with practiced ease.

One evening they met on patrol, about a month after their first meeting, Emi told him about a case she was preparing for.

»Yeah, apparently there's this really powerful Villain who's been rampaging around a nearby town. I heard he's escaped from prison not that long ago, and now he's doing exactly what he'd been doing before. And apparently a lot of Heroes have been having troubles with him, because of his specific quirk, and I thought you and I might be able to help. See, the Villain more or less ate the Heroes' attacks, and threw them back at the Pros – at least that's what I heard.«

»Wait ...« Shota interrupted, the quirk sounding too familiar. »Is the guy's name Garvey by any chance?«

»Um ... How did you know?«

»Lucky guess,« Shota blatantly lied.

He guessed it couldn't hurt to leave the Naruhata Ward, where the both of them currently resided, especially if it was for one day, and even that to beat that _peace of shit_ Villain one more time.

»When are we leaving?« he asked.

»You're going? Great! Um, I was planning on tomorrow, maybe? From the intel I've gotten I'd say he'll attack tomorrow for sure.«

»We could get on the bullet train in the morning, and get him in the afternoon, if that's when he's around again.«

Emi raised an eyebrow. »You know him, don't you? Have you fought him before?«

»That doesn't matter. Bullet train in the morning?«

The Smile Hero dropped the questioning and sighed. »How about 8:30?«

Shota nodded, and they went their own separate ways; Emi went home, and Shota went on patrol.

* * *

The train ride was a pain. Literally.

Shota tried to sleep to get some more energy, but a fight during his patrol aggravated his still not completely healed lower arm.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He reached towards his pocket to pull the device out, giving up on trying to sleep.

»Oh, sorry, that was me,« Emi said, smiling. »I sent out a message on the Hero Network urging any Hero with a suitable quirk in the area to lend us a hand when he go against Garvey.«

»That's ... actually not a bad idea,« Shota said.

The bullet train finally arrived to the station. The two Pro Heroes made their way around the city, getting themselves familiar with the streets, since they weren't completely sure where Garvey would appear. Emi wanted to go to a restaurant to get lunch, but Shota insisted it was too fancy for him. They ended up at a small local market, where they ate and came up with some plans.

It was three in the afternoon before they knew it, and they decided to keep an eye out on any disturbances in their surroundings.

At a few minutes past five, a factory exploded a few blocks away from them, a large monster-like figure standing in the smoke.

»It's him!« Emi shouted, and they started running towards the scene.

She whipped out her phone, sending out the location, so the other Pro Heroes could join them. She put the phone back in a secure pocket, and they kept running until they reached the scene of the attack.

»Something's wrong ...« Shota said. »He wasn't quite this big last time.«

»Maybe he was still a growing boy when you fought him?« Emi tried to lift the mood, when in truth, she, too, realized that they were screwed if no one came soon.

Her phone buzzed, but she didn't dare take her eyes of the Villain in front of them.

»Hopefully this buzz was someone responding that they're on their way,« she said.

»Hopefully,« Shota agreed. »Until then, though ... We're on our own.«

An orb detached itself from Garvey's back, and Shota blinked for one more time before activating his quirk. The orb stayed in the air above Garvey's head, but nothing happened. The Villain seemed to realize that something was wrong, because he started looking around for the cause of his problem.

»Now or never, Joke!« Shota yelled, and they ran towards the giant Villain.

»Honestly, I think my quirk may just make him more unstable,« Emi told the other Pro Hero.

»Then fight without your quirk,« the dark-haired man simply said. »I've seen you do it before.«

Garvey must have noticed them, because he turned his whole body towards them. He swung an arm at the approaching Heroes, but they both jumped out of the way.

»You've fought him before, right?« Emi asked. »How d'ya beat him?«

»I chucked a piece of concrete into his eye, and he fell over like a deck of cards. I doubt that would work this time, too, since he's so much bigger. He's faster, too. It's like he's been powered up or something ...«

Garvey threw a punch their way.

»Joke! Watch out!« Shota yelled and pushed Emi out of the way at the last second.

He put his hands up to try and absorb some of the energy, but the punch was much too strong for that, so he got thrown into a nearby building, the whole thing almost eerily similar to what had happened years ago, except this time it was a physical attack that blew the Hero away instead of a blast.

»Eraser!« Emi shouted when the Pro Hero fell to the ground.

She looked at the Villain with both horror and anger in her eyes. She knew her only way to win – or at least stall – was to get up close. She ran towards him again, this time managing to avoid every swing of his giant hands. She jumped towards his face to kick him in the eye, but suddenly an orb detached itself from his back.

While she was mid-air. She couldn't do a single thing to move away.

Suddenly, she felt some kind of cloth wrapping itself around her waist, and she was yanked out of the way of the blast. She managed to land on her feet. She looked to the side, where a tired Eraserhead was standing, pulling his capture weapon back, so it unwound itself from her.

It looked like he was clutching his right hand to his chest, but she couldn't tell if it was his hand that had been hurt or his chest. Maybe it was both.

Another orb detatched itself from Garvey's back, but Shota activated his quirk just in time, so it didn't do anything. Unfortunately, that only made the Villain more angry.

He charged at the two Heroes, demolishing everything in his way.

Emi looked around and realized they couldn't run away. Not because their way was closed, but because there were civilians not so far behind them.

»Shit!« she yelled.

Shota stood up as straight as he could, preparing for another attack, but suddenly the Villain started loosing speed. He slowed down to a stop before reaching the pair. He fell on his knees and plopped on the ground. A figure clad in a tight white suit jumped from his head.

»This guy is _humongous_!« the female voice sounded. »Are you two okay?«

Shota's eyes went wide.

»Oh, wow! It's Midnight!« Emi exclaimed, happy to meet a famous Hero.

Midnight stopped in front of the two.

»Shota?« she asked, disbelief in her voice. »Well, you look the same as ever.«

»Well, you look a lot more dressed than you used to be, Nemuri,« he responded.

Emi laughed. »That's because of her previous 'birthday suit' outfit, right?« She suddenly looked at the Erasure Hero with a big grin. »You just made me laugh even though _I_ 'm Ms. Joke ... Ha! You could be Mr. Joke, if you want! Let's get married!«

»No,« said Shota, slightly annoyed.

Emi pouted, but soon turned to the other Pro Hero with a smile.

»Thanks for helping us out Midnight!«

»Yeah, uh ... No problem ... Shota, are you okay?« the R-rated Hero asked, when she saw the man swaying on his feet.

He took a small step forward with his left leg to keep himself from falling over.

»I'm f-fine.«

»Yeah, for you stammering usually means you're feeling just perfect,« Nemuri said, sarcasm dripping from the sentence. She sighed. »Come on, my place isn't too far from here. You can take care of turning this guy over to the police, right Ms. Joke?«

Emi nodded, but glanced worriedly towards the male Hero.

»Don't worry about him. I'll take care of this idiot.«

Shota wanted to protest Nemuri's choice of words, but he was having some trouble breathing, so he opted for a simple »See ya, Joke.«

Nemuri pulled his left hand over her shoulders so she could support his weight. Shota whined, when the action pulled at his chest, but he also seemed more stable on his feet.

Emi waved at the pair and sat down on the ground near the unconscious Villain.

* * *

Nemuri sat Shota on her couch. The poor man was clearly tired and in pain.

»Where exactly does it hurt? And don't you dare say you're fine,« she said in a stern voice.

Shota stayed quiet for a couple of seconds.

»Right hand and ribs.«

»Thank you,« she said on her way to get the first aid kit.

When she came back she found her friend lying on the couch, already asleep. She took of his baggy shirt and found a nasty bruise forming at the lower left part of his rib cage. She bandaged his chest, so he wouldn't move it too much once he woke up. She then moved on to his obviously broken right hand.

Just as she was in the middle of taking care of the hand, Shota started waking up.

»That hurts,« he grumbled.

»I know, idiot. It's broken.«

He stayed quiet after that. When she was done bandaging his hand, she went and put away the first aid box. She closed the cupboard, and then made her way back to the living room. She found Shota pulling on his shirt and getting up.

»Oh, no. Do _not_ tell me you're doing what I think you're doing.«

»Thanks for the help,« he said, unable to look at her. »But I should be going back.«

»To do what? Fight more Villains in this condition?« she said, exasperated. »At least stop by a hospital or something!«

»Do I look like I have enough time _or_ money to lay in the hospital for a few days? I need to go back to Naruhata. You wouldn't believe me if I told you how many Villains that town has.«

»Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't. Either way, you are going nowhere. I'll use my quirk on you if I have to,« she threatened.

He pouted. »You'd use your quirk on a defenseless little me? I'm wounded.«

She snickered. »Are you trying to prove your point for me?«

Shota raised an eyebrow.

»You just said you're defenseless,« she explained. »Face it, Shota. You're stuck with me until you heal.«

After that, Shota took a short nap. When he woke up, it was already dark outside. Nemuri was watching TV, and Shota glanced at the bright screen.

»Oh, come on,« he said. »That's us, isn't it?«

She turned to him.

»Finally decided to wake up, huh? Yeah, that's the fight with that Garvey guy.«

»Ugh.«

»What do you have against being on the news?« she asked.

»I'm an underground Hero. I'm not supposed to be in the news. Besides, the media gets on my nerves with the way they twist everyone's words until you don't know what was actually said in the beginning.«

»Okay, fair point.«

The watched the rest of the news in silence. Nemuri looked at the time and her face lit up. She turned the TV off, and turned on her radio, looking for the right station.

»What're you ...« Shota started, but paused when he heard a familiar voice.

_»Welcome, listeners! You're listening to Hands Up! radio. Today we'll start with some classic songs, and then I'll open up the phone line so you can ask me some questions! ... First up is Thunderstruck to get us into the right mood ...«_

Shota couldn't quite believe his ears.

»Hizashi has ... a radio show?«

Nemuri nodded, excited. »Yeah, and he's actually very popular!«

»Did you two ... stay in contact?«

»Yeah, we crash at each other's places all the time if we have bad patrols. Or, you know, when we want to hang out.«

»That's nice.«

They both stayed silent for a moment, the only sound in the room being the back vocals in Thunderstruck's intro.

»You know, Hizashi told me what happened between you two,« Nemuri told the other quietly.

»Yeah? What did he say?« Shota asked, speaking no louder than his friend.

»He said he understood where you were coming from, but that he couldn't accept your decision.«

Shota felt a pang of pain in his chest, and he knew it wasn't because of the fight with Garvey.

»And how's he doing now?«

»He's better.« Nemuri looked away. »Do you know how devastated he was when you just up and vanished after graduation? He was sure you'd at least try to keep in contact. Instead, it was like you disappeared from the face of the Earth.«

Shota didn't know what to say to that.

»And then that whole incident happened a few years back, when his hearing had finally gotten so bad that he screwed up the mission because he hadn't gotten hearing aids by then.«

The Erasure Hero stayed quiet.

_It's better this way._

He looked at the ceiling.

_Is it really?_

Thunderstruck had ended, and now Hizashi was happily accepting calls from his listeners. Nemuri had said he was popular, but Shota was still overwhelmed by the sheer number of calls the Voice Hero got.

Shota pulled out his phone and looked up Hizashi's phone number.

The open line for listeners was coming to a close. Shota decided to send a text.

_Hey, I'm staying the night at Nemuri's_

_\- Shota_

He looked at the text again, before pressing 'send'.

_»That was it for today's calls, but we'll certainly continue next time, since I love hearing from you guys so much!«_

There was some silence.

_»R-right. Let's put on some tunes before we welcome today's special guest. And two people guessed correctly; their online usernames were Annie123 and JakeRules4eva, and their guess was our very own Number One Hero: All Might! Congrats, you two! But first, here's ELO and Mr Blue Sky!«_

The song started playing, and only seconds later, Nemuri's phone rang.

»Yeah? ... Yeah, he's here ... He'll be here for a while, yeah. He got beat up and I'm not letting him leave until he heals.«

There was a slightly longer pause.

»Yeah, sure. Of course ... Bye.«

She hung up. »You did something, didn't you?« she asked Shota.

»... I sent him a text saying I'm here.«

»The guy was on the verge of tears. Take that however you will,« she said and walked out of the room.

Shota listened to the radio until he fell asleep _again_ , a clear sign of how many times he hadn't gone to sleep when he should have.

When he came to, there was a low murmur coming from the kitchen. He stayed on the couch for a bit to let his groggy senses to wake up as well. After a while he sat up, and realized there were two distinct voices. He decided to get up and join them.

The moment he took a step into the kitchen, he regretted it because of the bright light. He put a hand over his eyes.

»Shota?« a familiar male voice said.

The Erasure Hero let the hand fall to his side.

»Hizashi,« he replied, not quite knowing what to say.

Shota sat down on the seat opposite to Hizashi. There was a moment of silence. It wasn't awkward, but it wasn't quite comfortable, either.

»You- you have a mustache now?« Shota said, trying to break the ice.

Hizashi smiled slightly. »Yeah. You like it?«

Shota looked down and nodded. »It looks good on you.«

There was another silence.

»So ...« Hizashi started this time. »Where've you been these past few years?«

Shota lifted his left hand and started rubbing the back of his neck.

»All over the country, really,« he said. »Currently, I have a small place rented in the Naruhata Ward.«

»Naruhata Ward, huh?« Nemuri asked. »That's how you know Ms. Joke?«

Shota nodded. »Our Agencies are kind of close together, so we've helped each other on a couple of occasions.«

»And Hero work? We haven't heard much about Eraserhead, so you're either really underground, or you're not doing your job properly,« Hizashi said, a small smile on his lips.

It made Shota smile slightly as well.

»I'd say the first, but to each their own, right?«

That was the start of some comfortable small talk. Nemuri soon realized that Shota hadn't eaten or drunk since he'd come to her place, to she offered to get something to drink.

Once she left, the flow of conversation was interrupted, and a sort of awkward silence fell on the remaining two Heroes.

»Look, Hizashi, I- «

»Shota, please don't. Don't apologize, don't get mad, just- just don't. I don't really want to talk about what happened back then. I'm just glad you're with us right now.«

»You're ... glad?« Shota asked, not believing what he had heard. »I thought you would be mad, or heartbroken, or, or – «

»Don't get me wrong, I was heartbroken. I was sad, I was angry, no- I was _depressed_ , and I was _livid_ ; ask Nemuri about it, if you really want to know. But even though you made me feel like _shit_ , I- I didn't want you to just disappear.«

Shota didn't dare say anything in return.

»I still wanted you in my life. Even if I would have woken up miserable every single day because I had to see you, I would have at least known you were _safe_. But, since you did what you did, I ... I didn't even know if you were _alive_ , man. And it- it _hurt_.«

»I- I didn't know you felt like that, I'm ... I'm sorry, Hizashi,« Shota said, his voice slightly wavering.

»You couldn't have known what I was going through. And I didn't know what you were going through. Wonder why?«

Shota stayed quiet.

Hizashi sighed. »Sorry. But I really _am_ glad you're here.«

»I didn't want to be a liability,« the dark-haired man finally admitted.

»A liability? Shota, you were never a liability. You never could be, not to me. Never to me.«

»You can say that, but it's not how I feel,« Shota said.

He didn't want the other man's pity, but he had to say what was on his mind.

»The place I'm currently renting has one room with a bathroom. The room has a small fridge, a sink and a small stove, a chair and a desk, so I can fill out my paperwork, and that's it. Everything I own, I have in a suitcase next to the yellow sleeping bag I've kept since high school, you know which one I'm talking about. With the money I get by bringing in Villains, I can barely pay for my food. Until I can get a more steady-paying job, I won't – I _can't_ consider myself as not being a liability.«

»A more steady-paying job, huh?« Hizashi repeated after him. »Okay, I'll wait.«

Shota was now confused. »What do you mean, 'okay, I'll wait'?«

»If it's just a questions of you getting a more 'proper' job, then I'll wait.«

»Hizashi, it's been years. You can't be saying you still haven't gotten over me.«

»Have you gotten over me?« the blonde deadpanned and Shota blushed.

»That's not the point here,« the Erasure Hero said, looking away.

»That's exactly the point here! We both know we belong together, so I'll wait until you're ready.«

»Hizashi ...« Shota started, looking at the other with tears in his eyes.

»So, drinks?« Nemuri interrupted, finally coming from the kitchen.

»Ah, thanks, Nemuri, but I'll be on my way,« Hizashi said.

She pouted, but walked him to the door anyway.

»Shota,« the Voice Hero called from the main entrance. »Nemuri can give you my address. If you're ever near me, you're welcome to crash at my place. And now that you have my phone number ... Don't hesitate to call. Or text, or whatever. Just- just don't disappear again, okay?«

Shota nodded.

»I'll call.«

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Next chapter'll be up tomorrow :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After getting injured and getting back in touch with Nemuri and Hizashi, Shota needs to return back to Naruhata ward. It almost seems like someone took up his Villain-fighting role while he was away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are many things in this chapter, which I've taken from My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, so *spoilers* I guess.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

Shota ended up staying with Nemuri for over a month, well after his injuries had healed, especially since she'd called a healer friend of hers. He even spent a few nights on Hizashi's couch, when Nemuri was out of town.

Hizashi didn't push him into anything, just like he had said.

But, after the next time Emi texted him about another really strange Villains in the Naruhata Ward, Shota decided it was time to go back. He needed to figure out what was going on in that place.

* * *

Not long after he moved back to Naruhata Ward, a meeting about the large-scale attacks there was called, and a lot of the well-known Heroes were there: Endeavor, Ingenium, Snipe, Thirteen, and Best Jeanist, to name a few. They were informed that apparently someone was spreading a drug called Trigger, and it made ordinary people into rampaging Villains.

Shota realized that was probably what had happened with Garvey.

After the meeting, Nemuri, who had also been at the meeting, caught up to him.

»Hey, Aizawa,« she greeted, still formal, since they hadn't yet exited the police station.

»Ah, hi there, Kayama,« he said.

»Where's Yamada today?« she asked with a smile.

»I'm not his babysitter, you know,« Aizawa grumbled, a little grumpy since he hadn't gotten enough sleep between his patrol and the meeting.

»Oh, I'm sorry,« Nemuri replied. »And? Where is he?«

Shota sighed, a small smile playing on his lips because of his friend's attitude. »He's on sick leave. Apparently he caught a cold.«

Nemuri looked him over. »And what on earth are you wearing? Are those pajamas?«

She went on and thoroughly berated him on the lack of formality shown in his clothes, since this had been quite a serious meeting.

»I appreciate the input,« he said in a voice that made it apparent he didn't really care. »If you're that keen on playing the guidance counselor, why don't you go become a school teacher or something?

»Indeed, that's exactly what I plan on doing,« she told him and it piqued his interest.

He stopped walking away to hear what else she had to say. Apparently Principal Nezu himself had requested she become a teacher at UA. And due to many reasons – some of them not so great-sounding to Shota – that was an offer she simply couldn't have refused.

Their talk was cut short by a sudden Villain attack on the police station, but the incident was quickly resolved since the place was literally swarming with high-class Heroes.

»If you've got your own opinions on education, why don't you become a teacher yourself?« Nemuri asked the Eraser Hero, getting back to their conversation.

»Huh?« Shota said, looking at her with obvious confusion. »What's gotten into you all of a sudden?«

She smiled, correcting the glasses on her face. »There's all sorts of students at school, you know. So we need different teaching styles to accommodate them all, isn't that right?«

Shota remained quiet quiet for a few seconds.

»You must be joking,« he finally said, snickering.

He turned and started walking away.

»Me, a teacher? Now _that_ would be the epitome of irrationality.«

* * *

Over the next few months, he took down many Triggered-up Villains, and he met Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi, and helped him investigate these so called 'instant' Villains.

During this investigation he met many interesting people, like the Hotta brothers, who had been selling stuff on the black market. He met some victims of the 'bad' version of the Trigger drug, who seemed to be friends with the Hotta brothers.

Since he thought they had a lot of information to give him, he started showing up at their shop called Hoppers a bit more often, talking to the people involved in the Trigger incidents and interviewing them with Detective Tsukauchi, sometimes just coming to talk with the Detective or with the Hotta brothers, and before he knew it, it was his go-to place to get coffee in the morning.

One morning, there was an instant Villain rampaging close to Hoppers. A young man in an All Might hoodie ran to the shop to warn them, and Shota thought he seemed kind of familiar. He didn't have time to think about that, though.

He ran out of the shop to fight with the instant Villain. He had almost won against the octopus-like man, but then the man whipped out another set of tentacles – apparently he was more of a squid than an octopus – and Shota was sent flying into the building behind him.

His vision was fuzzy, his left arm hurt like hell, and his body didn't want to move. And the instant Villain was charging at him again.

Suddenly, the young man from before was jumping in front of him, distracting the instant Villain. The Pro Hero quickly formed a plan in his head. He wrapped his left hand with his capture weapon to make a make-shift bandage, then yelled out orders to the kid and the Hotta brothers, who had also joined the fight to help him before he had been able to get up.

They managed to lure the instant Villain to a safer location and momentarily trap him there. A friend of the Hotta brothers' helped them, but the instant Villain escaped, and when they caught up to him, they found him beaten to a pulp.

After that day, Shota told Tsukauchi that the police could leave the Naruhata Vigilantes alone, since they were actually helping a lot with the case, and Shota found himself running into the two youngsters – the Crawler and Pop Star – more often than before. There was usually a Villain chasing them, and they wanted him to take care of the Villain, but he was actually fine with that.

He was starting to like these people; the Detective, the two Vigilantes, and the Hotta brothers and their friends.

* * *

After the incident with the Tokyo Egg, Shota's days became much calmer, since the investigation into the instant Villains had been concluded.

That was, until Nemuri decided to call him from UA.

She told him how great and fulfilling her job as a UA teacher was, and that Hizashi had already applied as a teacher as well, and he would start teaching in the next semester.

 _»... So all that's left is for_ you _to make the big leap.«_ Nemuri finished.

»Stop acting like me and him are attached at the hip,« he grumbled. »Besides, I never gave anyone any indication that I was on board the teacher train.«

_»Oh? But Hizashi told me 'He's the kind of guy who can't take action without a good shove from behind.'«_

»Tell him that _he's_ the kind of guy who meddles too much for his own good.«

_»I agree, though, that you've been shying away from what really matters.«_

Shota's eyes went wide at her words. He knew what she had meant. The three of them had fallen apart after Oboro's tragic death, but that didn't mean other teenagers should suffer the same fate.

But he wasn't prepared to admit all of that, and he wasn't sure he wanted the responsibility of raising teenagers to become good Heroes.

»Correction,« he said in a cold voice. » _Both of you_ meddle too much for your own good.«

_»Come one, I'm being serious here – «_

»That's nice, but I'm on patrol,« he interrupted. »Bye.«

He hung up, now in a slightly worse mood.

Then he heard some commotion coming from the main alley, and of course Crawler was involved. Shota helped him take care of the ridiculous Villain chasing the poor young man, and then he saw what exactly Crawler had in his hands.

It was a cardboard box with a kitten in it. And of course it started raining in that exact moment.

They took cover and then they started talking about the kitten. The Crawler was planning on keeping the animal, but then Shota told him everything one needed to do when caring for a cat, and the young man soon admitted that really _was_ too much responsibility.

»Then don't just take it home on a whim,« he told the student. »Put that thing back where you found it.«

The Crawler looked at him, his eyebrows raised. »Huh? You got something against cats?«

»It's not about whether I like them or not,« Shota huffed.

»You've totally been avoiding even looking at it.«

»Don't be swayed by your emotions. If you're not prepared for the responsibility, don't get involved with something in the first place.«

The two stood under the overhang of some shop in silence, and soon Shota's brain was swamped with the memories from his second and third year oh high school.

He remembered Oboro's happy-go-lucky attitude, and his determination to help everyone and everything, consequences be damned. Of course that was how the kid ended up dying, but ... Something about Oboro's attitude towards life and it's obstacles seemed to make Shota rethink what he had said to Nemuri.

And then, as suddenly as it began, the rain stopped.

»Anyway,« Shota said to the Crawler as he started making his way down the street, »do right by that cat.«

»Wait, where're you headed, Eraser?«

»Gonna check on the Hotta brothers.«

»I might as well tag along, then,« the young Vigilante said with a wide smile on his face. »Who knows – there might be a cat-loving customer at Hoppers.«

They made their way to the Hotta brothers' shop, and soon found out that the two brothers had befriended the squid instant Villain from not that long ago. The man apologized to Crawler for attacking him, but soon the theme of the conversation became the café the Hotta brothers were planning to start.

Shota just kept watching as everyone started pitching in ideas: giant bathrooms for 'jumbo-sized' customers, adopting the cat and making it a shop cat, just making the café into a cat cafe, etc.

Their enthusiasm and the go-get-'em attitude was starting to remind Shota of how his group of friends had been pitching ideas about what they would just _need_ to have in their dream Agency.

»Heloooo! Earth to Eraser!« someone shouted, and it managed to get Shota out of his dream-like state.

»Pay attention,« the elder Hotta brother said. »You're part of this, too.«

»Here's your assigned seat!« the younger showed him on the already drawn floor map.

»Next to the bathroom. Just use the back entrance when you drop by to steal coffee from us.«

»We can't have you lurking out front and scaring customers away like some kinda hobo spirit,« the younger brother finished for the both of them.

The longer he listened to the five of them talk about the cafe and the kitten, the more sure he was that he had to call Nemuri back. And maybe find a way to contact principal Nezu.

He looked up at the sky.

»Don't factor me into your plans, since I'm leaving this town pretty soon anyway,« he told the little group as he stood up from his chair.

»Oh ... All of a sudden?« the younger Hotta brother said, confused.

»Is it for a job?« the Crawler asked.

Shota didn't really want to explain everything to them.

»A cat café, though,« he just said instead, »that's a good plan. I'll visit the little guy when I can.«

* * *

Shota finally stepped out of Nezu's office, slightly relaxing. He knew he'd get the job, but he had still been nervous in front of the principal. He walked to Hizashi's apartment, and found Hizashi and Nemuri already waiting for him in the hallway.

He closed the door behind him and smiled. »I'm starting in the beginning of the next semester, just like you, Hizashi.«

The both of them smiled back.

»So,« Hizashi said, walking closer. »Now that you've got a monthly salary ...«

»A steady-paying job, you mean,« Shota grinned. »Yeah, but I still kinda need a place to stay, though.«

»No, you don't,« the blonde said.

Shota looked at him, confused.

»Mi casa es tu casa, or however that goes,« Hizashi grinned. »And you can't say no, because I've already bought a double-sized bed.«

Shota leaned towards the blonde. »I love you,« he said, the words easily rolling off his tongue after years of not being to say them.

The Voice Hero leaned forward as well. »I love you, too.«

After long, paniful years, they finally kissed.

And Shota knew that he was _home_.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shota and Hizashi go on a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of a short bonus chapter, where Hizashi meets some of Shota's new friends.
> 
> Enjoy!

Being a high school teacher was actually an interesting job, plus he could hang out with Nemuri and Hizashi during breaks. It was almost like the good old times – only Oboro was missing.

But as fun as it was seeing the panicked expressions on his students' faces every time he reminded them about turning in their homework or told them about a surprise test, it was also exhausting. The teenagers were simply too energetic.

So when winter finally came and the New Year holidays were fast approaching, Shota was getting excited about spending some quality time with his boyfriend and their best friend.

»So, any plans for Christmas and New Year, you guys?« Nemuri asked them one day during lunch break.

»Not really,« Hizashi responded, looking at Shota.

»Really?« she asked. »Well, I'm visiting my parents two days after Christmas, but other than that I'm free if you want to do something together.«

»Sounds nice,« Shota said. »How about we go somewhere on that day, too, Hizashi, so we won't be stuck here throughout the holidays?«

»Do you have anywhere specific in mind?« the blonde asked.

»I have an idea,« the Erasure Hero grinned.

* * *

The day of their trip finally came, and Shota ushered Hizashi onto the first bullet train to Naruhata Ward. Hizashi was really excited, since he'd only ever been in Naruhata Ward on official business, never just to have fun and to relax.

»Where first?« he asked once they were off the train.

»Down this street,« Shota said, a small smile playing on his lips.

They hadn't even been walking for long, when they heard a few screams further down the street.

»Please run away, people!« a familiar voice echoed. »This guy is, like, dangerous!«

They looked at each other. Sure, they were off-duty, but when someone needed help, they'd help.

They ran towards the commotion and found a young man in an All Might hoodie sliding around the ground and the walls of buildings, trying to distract a person who looked like a yellow turtle with spikes on the dark green shell.

»Is that ... Bowser?« Hizashi asked, his eyebrows shooting up.

The young man turned towards the voice.

»Woah! Present Mic!« he exclaimed, excited, recognizing the Hero even though he wasn't in his costume.

Shota shook his head, but his capture weapon hid the smile growing on his face.

»You sure get into the weirdest situations, Crawler,« he told the youngster in the hoodie.

»Oh, hey, Eraser,« Crawler grinned.

Shota and Hizashi quickly took care of the Villain and called the police, while Crawler and Pop Star disappeared from the scene of the fight.

»Nemuri told me you worked with some Vigilantes here, but she didn't say you actually became _friends_ ,« Hizashi said, laughing, when they were peacefully walking down the street again.

»Yeah, I met a lot of interesting people here, especially in the last year or two. Ah, here we are,« Shota told his boyfriend.

They stopped at the entrance of Hoppers' Cat Café.

»A cat café? Cool.«

»I was actually here when the owners decided to build it,« Shota said proudly.

»Of course you were,« Hizashi laughed as they entered.

Shota walked directly to the counter, where a man with a cap on backwards and an apron over a hoodie was washing the dishes, turned towards the wall.

»Hi, I have a table for two reserved near the back entrance?«

»Uh, we don't take reservations,« Ichiro Hotta replied, turning towards the pair. His face lit up with a smile. »Eraser, my man!«

The man gave Shota a fist bump, then he looked over the café.

»I believe your table is free.«

Shota nodded. He took Hizashi's hand in his own, and led the other Pro Hero to the table for two nearest the bathrooms.

»Kamayan, get your ass out here! We have a special customer!« came a shout from the Hotta brother behind the counter.

The moment the pair sat down, a big mantis-like person approached their table.

»Eraser, coffe as usual?«

Shota nodded.

»And your friend?«

»I'll have whatever he's having,« Hizashi said with a smile.

The mantis-man nodded and walked towards the counter.

»For trying to be an underground Hero, you sure are famous around here,« the Voice Hero laughed.

»Nah, it's just these few people. They were a big help during the Trigger drug investigation, and Tsukauchi and I hung around their place quite a lot. When the investigation was over, I just couldn't stay away from their delicious coffee,« the dark-haired man admitted with a grin.

A different waiter brought them their coffee, this time it was a man with tentacles. He had a kitten on the top of his head.

»I'm supposed to be working in the kitchen, but I had to bring little Erasercat to you,« he said, lifting the kitten off his head and gently putting it down on the pair's table.

»Erasercat?« Shota sked, one eyebrow raised.

»Yeah, it's like Eraserhead, but he's a kitten – so Erasercat,« the squid-man explained, his small lips turning up into a smile, before he walked back to the kitchen.

Hizashi couldn't stop himself from petting the kitten. »Dude, they named a cat after you.«

»A kitten,« Shota corrected. »That's even better,« he said, trying to hide his blush behind the capture weapon around his neck.

The Voice Hero laughed and took a sip of his coffee.

»Wow, you weren't exaggerating. This stuff's amazing!«

»You're amazing,« Shota mumbled, still hiding his face behind the capture weapon.

* * *

They slowly drank their coffee and talked about what else they could do together with Nemuri once she got back. When their mugs were empty, they kept chatting for a while longer, then they finally got up and walked to the counter to pay.

»No, no, no. You've never payed for coffee when you crashed at our place. If you did now, it'd just be weird,« the elder Hotta brother said.

»Yeah, it's on the house,« Jiro Hotta added. »And besides, who says a date can't be cheap?«

Shota's face immediately went red.

»Were we that obvious?« Hizashi asked.

»Not really, it's just that I've never seen Eraser smile sincerely that often in such a short amount of time,« Ichiro laughed.

They talked a bit more until a new customer walked in, and the staff had to get back to work. They said their goodbyes and the pair started towards the door, but a mantis arm landed on Shota's shoulder, making him turn back around.

»You've found yourself a good man, Eraser. But, just in case this doesn't work out – you can call us, and we'll have your back. You know that, right?«

»... Thanks, but I don't think that'll be necessary,« Shota replied, smiling.

»Take care, man.«

»You, too.«

Shota joined Hizashi outside.

»What was that?« the blonde asked.

»I'm pretty sure he offered to come kick your ass if we broke up,« Shota said, snickering.

»Yeah, I don't think that'll be necessary.«

»That's what I said, too.«

They both smiled, then started down the street, hand in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the last chapter! I hope you liked it!
> 
> PS: the story continues in my series The Life and Times of EraserMic :)


End file.
